Fulda Gap 2007

[SCBrian]

Pictures from the Fulda Gap 2007 Game will be online later tonight or tommorow. Many, Many pictures to slam the server with...

[Morph]

Kewl, Couldn't make the game myself. But I had alot of friends there as well as my OSF teammates. Hope to see some folks I know in the pics!

[gatlin]

Im looking forward to seeing them. Hopefully the pics are just as good as the game was! but then again when are they not?

[SCBrian]

With over 1000 photos to upload, it takes a little while...

[Werewolf]

Brian, after you placate the masses with the public pictures, could you email me everything you had on Rogue? Thanks.

Thump, thanks for sending Brian our way. He's a great guy and we all had a blast hanging out.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Werewolf

Thump, thanks for sending Brian our way...

No sweat -- sorry I missed Fulda Gap - sounds like it was a good one. I dont suppose Rogue is coming to Leyte?

[Commander Davis]

Nice, it was an awesome scenario...

[Werewolf]

No PBC for us. I've got drill that wekeend and the guys were low on cash.

[Werewolf]

Alright, alright. Due to popular demand, I am going to forego any actual work here at the hangar and sit down to write this AAR. God knows I can't get it done at the house....so here goes.

Finally, the Fulda Gap weekend has arrived. I took Friday off from my cush federal job (cuz I'm cool like that) and made it up to the field sometime around noonthirty with Bull, our Fire Team Bravo leader. We staked out a claim next to Cliff and the Lethal Paintball crew, effectively cordoning off an East German Infantry camping area. We even had our USSR and DDR flags flying beautifully in the breeze. After checking in and getting all the player packets, we made sure camp was good to go and met half of the team at the Red Roof Inn to check in and get settled. We then came back to the field for meetings and briefings and to make sure our Rogue campers were settling in nicely.

The meeting was very productive, though pretty friggin warm. Those heaters were smokin' me out. Nevertheless, we learned a lot of small rules and accomplished some good coordination between a lot of the different teams. Dave did a good job putting out what needed to be put out in a fluid manner, fielded questions and comments in a timely manner, and released us. I was happy about how it went, but very unhappy about some of the rules in place; i.e. the one where the LAW gunner had to call himself out, check in with the tank walker, get his kill card stamped, then walk off the field and reinsert like he was dead. More on that later.

The next morning, we got everything together and geared up. The team was ready for this and had been for a while. Everyone was pumped. I became very discouraged when I went to chrono, though. My AKA5 was not operating correctly and was only getting off one shot at a time at about half-velocity. The Cyclone wasn't even operating when I pulled the trigger. With the briefing starting and the game a few min utes away, I was pissed. Enter your friendly neighborhood Archon Guy. He took one look at my marker, and then pointed to his huge rack of wonderous Soviet replicas and told me to pick one and play with it. I was awestruck. I chose out a duplicate AK with an E-Grip. He smiled like Santa Claus and sent me on my way. I think I skipped the whole way to the chrono range. That thing worked beautifully all weekend. I found out at the LAW brief that my fears and gripes were unfounded. The LAW gunner simply had to call himself NEUTRAL, check in with the tank walker, get his card stamped, and then resume the fight. Much better.

Phase I started on the wrong foot from the very beginning. The East Germans were supposed to start on our side of the DMZ, halfway up the hill under the powerlines. We linked up with Lethal on the way and as we worked our way up the hill, saw NATO Special Forces staging on our side of the DMZ at Luke. Great. I tasked Lethal to start right next to them and keep them pinned down at the horn. The Rogues were supposed to invade West Germany across the halfway point of the DMZ and Team AFC was supposed to do the same at the very top of the hill after they hid the nuke. That went over like a lead balloon. The horn sounds, we jump off and get hammered at the DMZ by a very thick force of NATO troops that had created a skirmish line all across the DMZ. Lifer was able to lead the AFC across the DMZ and get a foothold into West Germany, but we were bogged down hard in the middle. Lethal finally got taken out after a fierce firefight with the NATO SF guys and was busy reinserting at DZ5. I grabbed Cliff and asked him to take over our position, since it seemd like the NATO SF guys were more interested in attacking the backside of Bravo. Lethal took our position at the DMZ to guard against a NATO rush into East Germany and I pulled the Rogues off the line and took them up the hill to back up AFC. We made it across and linked up with them in West Germany. We created a skirmish line from the DMZ down the hill to the tapeline and began to sweep towards Holiday. Again, we get seriously bogged down because the thick underbrush kept us from being able to engage at distance and it allowed the NATO troops to reinsert right in front of us from DZ2. This allowed them to continuously hammer us with wave after wave of troops. I kept noticing that I was shooting the same guy and then having him reappear a few minutes later. We started to get thin along the line and then I pulled back to the top of the hill to reinforce some walk-ons that had encountered stiff resistance along the trail to Holiday. Again, we get pinned down by NATO troops with excellent firing positions. Cries of low paint and air start filtering in through the radio and I can sense our line collapsing down by DZ2. I take a couple of Rogues to explore the DMZ and find that Lethal is still unable to cross. Frustrated, with the end of Phase I approaching at 1300 and we still don't have any of our objectives completed, I pull Rogue Cell back across the DMZ into East Germany and get accountability. Everyone is low on everything. I speak to Cliff and we agree to just launch a huge rush across the DMZ. On the count of three, we charge.....and get lit up. Oh well. 1300 hits and the Phase is over with the EGI having accomplished very little. We decide to go eat lunch and reload.

It's 30 minutes into Phase II by the the time we are back on the field. I made an executive decision to reinsert as a team once everyone was ready instead of letting them trickle back on the field in pairs, despite the command net squawking for us to reinsert ASAP. I link up with command at Bravo and get the word they want to assault the opposite side of the field, reinserting at DZ6. This is good news and a good change of pace for us.

We attack Apache first and learn that there is vvery little resistance. I can't even remember if we made contact. After flipping the flag in apache, we set off towards Hamburger. I kick out two point men a few hundred feet and lead the Rogues down the path. We catch movement over by Hamburger and as we sit on the path and recon them for a while, someone opens up on the point men, forcing them to go prone. While I'm still on the path, I notice a NATO troop not fifteen feet from me drawing down on my point men and I light him up. All hell breaks loose. The Rogues fan out and sweep through the woods, taking out five or six NATO troops. We storm Hamburger from the three uphill sides and I get taken out. I reinsert at DZ6 and find half of the Rogues already there. The other half show up while I'm resetting my gear. Not good. I don't know if we ever flipped Hamburger's flag.

Round 2, fight! I lead the Rogues out of the DZ and we head back towards Apache. I knew that if our Hamburger assault was repelled, then they probably retook Apache. Sure enough, as we approach the intersection, we see the reoccupation force. Using smoke and flanking techniques, we are able to retake Apache. This time, we dig in because we see a good-sized force of NATO down the trail. We make contact with command and they tell us to hold Apache until the 1700 horn and end of Phase II. That's an hour and a half from now, but wilco. We settle in and get ready. We repel a handful of NATO raiders for about thirty minutes and are feeling pretty confident. NATO has offered fairly light resistance and we can hear very heavy fighting down the hill at Alpha. It seems like Command has put sufficient pressure on Alpha to distract their attentions from Apache.

We couldn't have been more wrong...

[Werewolf]

With about an hour left until the 1700 horn, we see a large force begin to make it's way down the trail from the direction of Hamburger. They immediately spread to either side of the trail and begin to work their way towards Apache and my Rogue occupation force. I'm constantly making the rounds in the fort, telling the guys to pick their targets, conserve the ammo and air, and stay low. The firefight heats up and we start to make contact from the lower trail that leads to Alpha. We are rapidly being surrounded. Paint starts to break in Rogue barrels. One gun burps out of air and goes down. Then my AKA5 does the same. There's still 45 minutes left until the horn. I'm screaming for the Rogues to conserve. Rockets are thumping into the fort, but luckily, the LAW gunner's aim is pitiful and I think he runs out of ammo. No more rockets are inbound after about five shots. I test the wind and call out "Silver Bullet", our code for a gas attack. The Rogues mask up and get ready. I chuck a gas grenade into the woods and it fills the trees up beautifully with orange smoke, forcing the enemy to mask up as well. I was hoping that few of them would be prepared, but to no avail. After a very brief lull in the fighting while a ref checks for masks, we're back at it. The wooden walls of Apache are thundering with paintball strikes. It's real loud in the fort and I'm having to roar at my guys for them to hear me. Rogues start running out of paint and people are calling out. There's 20 minutes left.

They're at the walls now. Only a handful of surviving Rogues are within the fort. I see enemy barrels pointing in through windows and doorways. One NATO soldier ducks in the back door and slides around the backside tower that I'm hiding in. He leans around the corner and eliminates a Rogue. I dart out and barrel tag him in the back with a barrel I stripped from a downed gun. Paintballs smack the walls beside me and I dive back into the tower base. I start to recognize the enemy troops inside the fort as I lurk in the darkness. It's B-Squad from Winston-Salem. A Rogue on the backside of the fort uses his last bit of paint to shoot at the Bees coming in the front. A Bee dashes across the doorway, eliminating the Rogue, and I scare the snot out of him as I explode out of the doorway and barrel tag him in the chest. I leap back into the tower, but another Bee runs across and sticks his gun in the doorway, hosing the interior of the tower down and stitching me up good. Needless to say, I'm quite pissed about being lit up with a blind fire.

Being the last Rogue in the base, the Bees are celebrating their victory. I can only leave in silence while I hear the Bees congratulate each other. I can hear Mike Provenzano, the Queen Bee, applauding his guys. I gather up the remnants of our equipment and make my way to DZ6, fuming mad. Dave Thompson is down there and I'm spitting nails. The Werewolf is loose and I'm roaring and barking and snapping. He calms me down and tells me to go and retake Apache. We have 15 minutes for the points. I look at him like he's crazy and try to talk him out of it. None of the Rogues have paint or air and we're covered in paint. There's no way we can retake Apache in fifteen minutes, not with 25 NATO troops occupying the base. "We need the base!" he says and moves off towards Sim City. I sit there fuming and arging with myself for a good minute or two. Then word comes over the command freq. "Reinforce Sim City! NOW!"

Anything sounds better than throwing ourselves back into B-Squad's teeth at Apache, so we slap in our pods and take off down the hill towards Sim City. We hit the trail and can hear firing starting pick up out in the clearing. I'm still pissed and in Werewolf mode, so I just order the Rogues up the hill through the treeline. We hit the clearing and burst onto the scene mad as hell. We charge out into the buildings and cars and spread out, sweeping the field. The rest of the Warsaw Pact joins us. I lay my empty AK down behind a bunker and run towards the nearest trailer, slamming into the side of it with a bunker tag that rocks the foundation. Refs start clearing the building from the other side and I continue on. I tell a very tall Soviet soldier in a helmet to cover me and luckily for me he starts immediately, becuase without waiting for him, I took off around the corner for the next building. I bunker tag the next trailer and start pounding on the side of it as I make my way down the side, effectively making a bunker tag every five feet in order to make sure all of the rooms are clear. I paid no attention to the fact the trailer was sitting on piles of bricks and the NATO troops on the other side of the building were watching me underneath. I turn the corner and get dropped to the ground by a Blue not ten feet away with a beautiful shot to the inside of my right thigh. That thing stung. He in turn gets lit up as the Soviets turn the corner at the other end of the building. I roll around on the ground for a minute and catch my breath, then call myself out and stand up, still mad from before and now in pain. I'm not in a good mood. As I wander back into the center of Sim City, the horn blows at 1700 and we finish Phase II with Sim City. Dave Thompson stalks past and gives me five.

God Almighty, what a day.